Labour process theory: taking stock and looking ahead

The article critically reconstructs the trajectory of the Labour Process Theory debate from Braverman onwards. It analyses the second wave classics and the principal underpinnings of the so-called core labour process theory. It describes the debate spurred by the formalisation of the core theory vis-à-vis changing productive structures. It identifies a few threads of fruitful internal debate that are crucial for the analysis of current trends and transformation of work: the missing subject, the connectivity gap, and the role of technology. The ways in which the LPT literature has tackled such issues seems promising of an open and lively debate that reasserts the relevance of the Labour Process Theory as an analytical framework that remains crucial in the current sociology of work.